From: dnomhcir@gmx.com   
      
   oldernow  writes:   
      
   > On 2024-08-07, Richmond  wrote:   
   >   
   >> You say we revise meanings, but what actually happens   
   >> is meanings change gradually. So over time a meaning can   
   >> change, but that's not the same as a subgroup of people   
   >> getting together and deciding to define a word. Even   
   >> having defined a word its usage will remain the same,   
   >> and its usage is what truely defines it. There are many   
   >> examples from law I should think where the legal meaning   
   >> of a word is different from its general usage.   
   >   
   > I think that's even more insidious than generally accepted,   
   > in that individuals perform the assignment/revision of   
   > meaning to word symbols in real time, including in the   
   > simplest of conversation, which to me is the main source   
   > of communication contention.   
      
   I noticed recently that Richard Dawkins defined sex as male if there is   
   a Y chromosome, although sometimes he says 'biological sex'. The word   
   sex, as in the state of being male or female, was used in 1382 in John   
   Wycliffe's Bible translation. Chromosomes weren't discovered until the   
   19th century.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)